Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I usually try to control my rants to a minimum,but... this is ridiculous! I have ruined two pairs of flip flops recently and they were my only black ones! from what you ask??? Gum! stupid gum! this is the second time have stepped in gum while getting into my car in a parking lot!Crazy hot summer days, when I have not been paying attention and walced into a huge wad of melted stranger gum! yuck ! then I spend the next 15 minutes trying to scrap it off by practically doing the moon walk in the wal-mart parking lot looking like a foo! and I am way grossed out when it comes to other peoples gum who knows where that has been??? So next time you go to spit that gum out think twice!:) Or just think of me not matching because I have no more black flip flops:)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

PERU: I haven't been able to decide what to write about for my very first blog, after alot of hard thinking i decided to write about one of the most life changing experiences I have had,that is doing a humanitarian project in Peru.It all started in the spring of 2007 when I met my good friend Melissa at my singles ward we instantly became friends, which is funny because she was dating a boy I had just broken up with, but surprisingly we weren't enemies:) any who she had told me she was doing an internship in Peru for Eagle Condor and she would be living there for three months.Now this isn't out of the ordinary for my friend she is an amazing person who is very adventurous... so secretly I wanted to go to Peru too, but I knew I could not leave work and everything else for three months.As months past by I always had this idea of going to Peru in the back of my head and one night in August a couple of weeks before my friend was to leave I told her how I knew somehow I was supposed to go! but the problem was I couldn't find a way to stay for three months.And she told me " Oh Amy you can go!" there was an expedition leaving in November over Thanksgiving for two weeks! I was so excited! that night I put a deposit down on line and i was ready to go.Leading up to this trip was kinda funny I tried very hard to learn Spanish and failed miserably I learned some very key words and children's songs but that was it:) and then on August 18Th 2007 I got on the plane with with my suitcase and two humanitarian suitcases.I had never been on a plane before...well except for sky diving.. and it was so much fun! until....20 hrs later I was still flying ! I was so tired of sleeping in airports and my long legs squished!so I finally made it to Peru with 30 other people on this project I was the only one who did not have family with them :( but when i made it to Peru I met up with my friend Melissa! I was so happy to see her and she was so happy to see someone she knew! she introduced me to one of the project coordinators who pulled me in and kissed me on the cheek I realized really quick how loving the Peruvian people are.From there out every native I met hugged me and kissed me something very shocking..especially because I'm not a touchy person. After getting settled in me and Melissa went touring! There is way to much to write about all of the things I did but some of the highlights were.. Machu pichu! which was amazing, I got to climb a mtn. right behind it called wanna pichu that is on the top climbers list and you have to sign your name on a paper just in case you fall off and die they know what to put on you head stone (no lie:) missionaries aren't allowed to climb it because so many people have fallen off and died! we went to caves,the temple,lama farms, the black market! anything you could ever want and more just in a cheaper version and stolen probably:) ancient ruins, and one other highlight was the sunflower orphanage where we got to hand out presents and candy to these adorable little kids who had been picked up off the streets by the police.They told us that these children were parent less and either been selling things off the streets or selling themselves:( but they were all beautiful ,and the amazing thing about this orpahange is that it was run by the church so all of the children knew the primary songs and sang them to us.They said there goal is to get all of the boys who come through there on a mission, and overall to help each child realize they are a child of god. After all the touring and eating of crazy food.It was time for work we spent the next week and 1/2 hand nailing walls together for 4 sided houses we would be setting up for the earthquake victims, it was so humbling to see the devastation of these families of 15 people sleeping in a tent made for 5 people and what little they had and been working for their whole life's was gone.And the joy we saw in their faces when they had a house with walls and a roof! I think had forgotten how good it feels to do service. We got to play with all of the children and i so wanted to adopt them! there was one little boy named Anderson who actually was up for adoption he was 3 years old and i met him at church, he was on the stand and for some reason kept winking at me and raising his eyebrows at me, towards the end of sacrament everyone knew what was going on, and when it was over he came running down the stairs and put his hands on my cheeks and just stared at me and then hugged me.I will never forget those big brown eyes and those cute little arms wrapped around my neck!every minute i was there I realized how good i actually have it i will never take for granted what I have again! I had many more amazing experices...to many to write!but not only did I have amazing experiences in Peru I discovered if I put my mind to something I can do it nothing is impossible, once i realized this, I went to my first semester of college that spring something i thought i could never do:)